Sports summit hears Birmingham's plan to produce an Olympic champion

Sports Summit panel with a wicker model of Mo Farah at Edgbaston Stadium

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Birmingham councillors have pledged there will be no repeat of the sporting failures which saw Britain’s second city fail to produce an Olympic champion at London 2012.

The city did not have one golden post box after the games, a sports conference into how Birmingham can build on the success of London Olympics heard.

The aim of the Birmingham Sports Summit was to keep the “feel good factor” going by encouraging more people to take up exercise and get involved in sports.

The conference, at Edgbaston Cricket Ground, heard how there was still a need for such initiatives as a survey by Sport England found 24 million people did not do any physical exercise.

The day-long event attracted more than 300 delegates representing everyone from grassroots sports clubs, to professionals, businesses and members of the health service.

They included representatives from British Cycling, UK Athletics, the University of Birmingham and the NEC Group.

The summit was opened by council leader Sir Albert Bore, who told delegates sport contributed to the economic growth of the city, as well as improving the health and well-being of communities.

Birmingham had a great summer, he said, hosting high profile events such as the World BMX Championships, the Olympic trials and Diamond League athletics events, hosting the USA and Jamaican track and field teams, Sky Ride and the Bupa Great Birmingham Run.

“These events have captured the enthusiasm of our citizens and have inspired future generations and secured a hunger for sporting opportunities, so we need to build on this momentum in sport,” he said.

Deputy council leader Coun Ian Ward said the authority was in the process of drawing up a new strategy for sport which will be published in the New Year.

And he said it would focus not just on getting more people involved in sport on a daily basis, but would also try to find future members of Team GB by investing in grassroots sports.

“Birmingham does not have a golden postbox post-Olympics, and we want to change that for Rio 2016,” he said.

The conference was also told how it was imperative that the council took the lead as the vast majority of sports facilities in the UK were run by councils or schools.